At Flying lessons on Tuesday Hooch was having them play a short game of Quidditch. She led them all to the actual pitch, and reluctantly allowed James to join, to make the teams even. Apparently it was going to be a huge game. There were thirteen Gryffindors and thirteen Slytherins, so Hooch explained she was just going to double all the positions except for Keeper. James was practically vibrating, clutching the school broom, so happy he could be part of this. Especially since quite a few older students had shown up to watch, knowing that Hooch was planning this game and they wanted to see the first years.

I don't even know the rules, Remus thought miserably, wondering if he could fake passing out enough to get out of this. Hooch had talked about the rules of Quidditch in a previous class however he had sort of phased out during that, not caring. Now he wished he had paid attention.

"Urswick and Struthers will be the Keepers," Hooch said, looking at the list she had made out. "The four Seekers will be Evans, Jacknife, Lupin, and Nott."

Remus jerked a little bit at hearing his name. What did a Seeker do? He couldn't remember. However glancing around he realized Hooch had chosen the four smallest students to be Seeker, so there was a reason for that. Then he burned with humiliation as he realized all the other Seekers were girls, and he was among their ranks as being the smallest. Then he realized he was the smallest except for Jacknife height wise. Even Lily standing next to him was a good inch and a half taller than him. At least Peter was close to his own height, as well as Silverlocke, so he didn't feel too wimpy. Just mostly.

"Beaters: Alexander, Black, Bulstrode, Crabbe, Magpie, Mulciber, Nettle, and Spinnet. Everyone else... a Chaser. Now, the Bludgers we'll be using aren't real bludgers. They're softened so they won't do much damage if they hit you." Remus noticed Bulstrode snap his fingers. "There will be four Bludgers, two Snitches, and two Quaffles, however the Quaffles cannot be thrown at the same time towards the same goal. If one team has both Quaffles, and they throw them at the same time towards the goals, you will lose points for your side. Understand? Now, because there are two Snitches, they're only worth seventy points. Also, since we only have forty-five minutes, catching either or both Snitch won't end the game. The winning side will be rewarded with twenty-five points to their house. Any questions?"

Yes, what does a Seeker do? Remus kept his question to himself, not wanting to humiliate himself. He figured he could watch the other three and go from there.

Hooch gave rather terrifying looking bats to the Beaters. Bulstrode began smacking his into his other hand, grinning wickedly at the Gryffindors. Sirius spun his around, also grinning though not in a mean way, more in an excited manner. Though nobody was as excited as James who was now hopping from foot to foot in anticipation.

"Lily," Remus whispered while they mounted, "what do Seekers do?"

She stared at him in disbelief. "Find the Snitch," she replied. "And catch it."

Remus went pure white. Catching it meant taking his hands off the broom. Then again, every single position involved taking hands off the broom so he doubted there was anything better for him.

Hooch released all the balls. Six of them flew on their own, two of them-the red balls they had used before in class-were tossed up as Hooch blew her whistle and everyone took off. Remus stayed close to Lily, trying to remember which ball the Snitch was. Only two of them and not the one the Chasers use, so the gold ones, with wings. He scanned the air, remembering how fast they had darted around. How were they supposed to see it? Let alone catch it?!

Remus hovered far too high off the ground, just watching the game. James had one of the Quaffles and was doing fancy tricks to avoid the Slytherin Chasers; he got the first goal of the game. And the second. And the third. He got the Quaffle again but Remus couldn't watch since one of the middle-sized balls whizzed by his head. Remus yelped, nearly falling off his broom, having to wrap both his arms around his broom.

Mulciber was nearby with one of those bats, snickering at Remus. "Careful, lil baby! When the Bludger hits, the cradle will fall!" He flew off, cackling, while Remus tried to sit upright again, a little shaky now. Okay, so hovering in one place was probably a bad idea.

"All right there, Remus?" Sirius asked, flying up to him.

"No! I want to get b-back to the ground!" he complained bitterly. Maybe if he flew close enough to the ground and pretended to crash he could get out of this...

"You've got the perfect build for a Seeker, you know," said Sirius, flying in lazy circles around Remus, keeping an eye out for Bludgers. "Get some courage there, you'd do amazing."

"No."

Bulstrode hit one of the Bludgers their way and Sirius blasted past Remus, hitting it back towards the Slytherins, then diving to get back into the game, leaving Remus alone. He drifted higher, looking for that gold ball again. If his eyesight was as good as his hearing or smelling then he'd be set however his eyes were just what he assumed were normal human eyes with the perk of seeing in the dark. At least he wasn't colorblind.

"Doing well?" Silverlocke flew near him, knowing how uneasy Remus was on a broom.

"N-not really," he admitted.

Silverlocke opened his mouth to say something then Mulciber flew between them. "Silverlocke! Don't talk to the enemy! Dummy! Get back to the Quaffle!"

Silverlocke gave Remus an apologetic look before flying off. Mulciber turned to face Remus, looking as though he wanted to just outright hit Remus with the bat. He sneered then took off after Silverlocke, probably to chew him out some more.

By this point the points had been wracking up. 90-60, Gryffindor, though Slytherin scored a moment later. The older students were watching, cheering, enjoying seeing the first years play. There were Slytherins in the stands as well as Gryffindors. Both sides had their Quidditch teams there to watch, to get an idea of who should tryout next year.

A gold flash went past him and he cried out, falling sideways, spinning on his broom, clutching at the handle, hanging upside down. He locked his arms and legs tightly, panting heavily as blood rushed to his head. The Snitch hovered near him, as if taunting him. It was within reach, if he dared let go of the handle. Which he didn't.

"H-help," he squeaked out, no idea how to flip himself back. He was growing exceedingly dizzy, the world going blurry around him.

One of the Slytherin Seekers-Jacknife-sped towards them and the Snitch flew off, her in chase. Sirius also flew over to help Remus get back round the right way. The Slytherins were laughing hard at Remus's absolute failure. Not just the first years, but the ones in the stands as well. Remus's cheeks went bright red as fingers pointed his way.

"Don't worry about it, she's lost it anyway," Sirius said, jerking his thumb towards Jacknife who was indeed doing zigzag patterns as she tried to re-spot the Snitch. "Pardon me!" He went off and hit a Bludger in the general direction of Jacknife and she definitely lost the Snitch after doing a loop to avoid the ball.

120-100 now, Gryffindor. James had one Quaffle... then Hooch blew her whistle as he got hold of the other, pausing the game so she could shout at him that that was against the rules.

"You never said we couldn't!" James complained. Hooch pursed her lips, realizing she hadn't. Apparently it was a rule that he couldn't hold both at the same time. James sighed, visibly cross, but at least he hadn't been penalized. Hooch blew the whistle again, the game resuming. James threw the second Quaffle towards the nearest Gryffindor which was, unfortunately, Peter, who, while a better flyer than Remus, still wasn't very good and he dropped the Quaffle. Slytherin got it, both sides scoring. 130-110.

By this point it was very clear who the good players were: James was the best, hands down. Inkwood was very good too, and had made a few scores for Gryffindor. Sirius made a pretty decent Beater. Those three were definitely the best out of the Gryffindor first years. On the Slytherin side: Mulciber and Bulstrode were both strong Beaters, while Rosier had made most of Slytherin's goals. Urswick was probably a decent Keeper but James was a better Chaser.

Pretty much at this point everyone in the stands were waiting for the Seekers. They didn't have to wait long: Lily suddenly went into a dive. Remus watched her hurtle towards the ground and his stomach rose up into his throat as she got way too close to the ground, then she pulled herself up one handed, and had a Snitch in her other hand. The Gryffindors watching erupted into cheers as the scoreboard changed.

200-110.

Remus hooted and hollered (since he didn't dare clap) while Lily handed the Snitch over to Hooch, then returned to the skies, face full of triumph. "G-g-good job!" he called and Lily gave him a thumbs up.

"That was exhilarating!" she said back then flew closer. "And a little scary, don't tell anyone."

"I w-was so scared you were going to crash," he said.

Lily laughed. "Me too!"

"Hey!" They both looked up as one of the Slytherins came over, Remus expecting it to be one of the Beaters; it was Snape. He glared at Remus then flicked his gaze over to Lily. "You were incredible," he said.

"Thanks, Sev! You've been doing really good too!"

"Thanks," he mumbled, sounding awkward now. While Rosier had made seven of the goals, Snape had made three of the other four. "I should, er..." He trailed off then returned to the game.

About five minutes later Remus saw the other Snitch and tried to go for it but when it headed to the ground, he couldn't follow very well. His dive was too slow, too shallow, and Jacknife and Nott both ripped past him, followed shortly by Lily. Remus started to pull up, miserable with himself, when pain exploded in the back of his head, he saw a burst of light, and everything went black.

()

Remus woke up on a stretcher, Pomfrey floating it alongside as she walked. He heard other people around so he just closed his eyes, pretending to still be unconscious until she got him to the hospital wing behind some curtains. His whole body was hurting and itchy. As soon as he heard the curtains shut, he opened his eyes again, sitting up. The pain was fading, but it still felt like stabs all over as he moved.

"What h-happened?" he asked softly.

Pomfrey gave him a fierce look. "Apparently one of the Slytherin Beaters 'mistook' your skull for a Bludger. He insisted he saw a Bludger however..." She shook her head angrily.

"Wh-which one? Bulstrode or Mulciber?" He doubted it was one of the girls, Crabbe or Alexander.

"Mulciber," Pomfrey replied, furious. "I told Rolanda not to use real Beater bats but she never listens to me."

"Least it was me and not, you know, someone who would a-actually be seriously h-hurt..." Remus tried to smile but Pomfrey's fury made him just shrink back.

"You fell, and probably broke all the bones in your body. Rolanda managed to slow you at the last second however you still hit the ground very hard."

"Did I die?" Remus asked.

Pomfrey froze, her eyes going rather wide. The question had sent her completely off balance. "Of course not," she finally said.

"Oh."

"You sound disappointed."

Remus shrugged and lay back against the pillows. "Just curious, th-that's all." He had never had such a close brush with death outside transformations before. Really, he couldn't be sure he had ever died in the first place, however when his mother once told him (sobbing) about how she thought he had died after his first transformation he wondered if he technically died from his wounds, and his regeneration brought him back. He wasn't sure if that was a thing or not. He wanted to know one way or another, and was disappointed Pomfrey couldn't tell him.

"You'll rest here for a while, until sufficient enough time has passed," grumbled Pomfrey, uncomfortable still over his morbid question.

Remus spotted the clock. "Will I be able to go by six? I have somewhere I n-need to be then."

"We'll see," Pomfrey said. "You get some rest, or at least pretend to sleep." With that she flounced past the curtains, muttering to herself.

Remus settled back and probably would have fallen asleep but a bunch of his classmates showed up. Sirius, James, and Peter, followed closely by Lily, Colgate, Inkwood, and Struthers. And Silverlocke, far in the back, keeping his distance. The seven Gryffindors crowded around his bed, asking him a million questions, giving him a headache. He didn't know exactly what happened to his body so all he said was Pomfrey made him take Skele-Gro to mend up all the broken bones he had gotten.

"My wh-whole b-b-body i-itches," he added, his stutter a little worse than it had been due to the presence of Colgate, Inkwood, and Struthers. He didn't know them very well at all. He didn't like they were there; he didn't like there were so many people there. It was making him feel overwhelmed and uncomfortable, and his skin crawled like bugs were all over him.

"I'm gonna kill Mulciber," Sirius growled, prowling about. "No, really, I'm gonna murder him. He just whacked you! The Bludger was no where near you! Whacked! Full force! Knocked you off! What a total bastard!"

"Professor Slughorn is talking to him right now." Everyone turned to stare at Silverlocke. He took a hesitant step back at the six sets of annoyed Gryffindor eyes, the only ones not being Lily and Remus. "I'm sure he'll be punished adequately."

James pushed past the girls so he could stand right in front of Silverlocke. "What're you even doing here, Slytherin?" Silverlocke's face flushed a little. "Come to gloat?"

"Lupin's... we're..." Silverlocke couldn't finish the sentence, unsure of how to. Remus couldn't answer either. Were they friends? He didn't think so, but perhaps they were. "We're in study group together," he finally said. "I harbor no ill will towards him."

"You're a Slytherin," James sneered. "All you harbor is ill will!"

"That isn't true, Se-" Lily said then her forehead wrinkled, her teeth nipping at her bottom lip. She didn't want to mention her friendship with Snape in front of James, which, Remus figured, was probably the best choice. "Er, Silverlocke's been part of our group for ages and has been very civil and nice. Unlike you."

"He's f-fine, I don't m-mind him h-here," Remus said, tugging the hospital blanket up a bit. What he did mind was everyone being there. He hoped he still at least looked enough like someone who crashed into the ground after getting his brains knocked about.

Pomfrey came out of her office looking about ready to explode at the sight of all the students. She stomped over and put her hands on her hips. "Absolutely not. Two visitors, that's all. Just two. The rest of you can go."

Lily gave Remus's hand a squeeze. "I'll see you later," she said, leaving with Inkwood and Colgate. Struthers left too after mumbling that he hoped Remus would be well. That left James, Sirius, Peter, and Silverlocke. As if to prove who had the right to be there, Sirius sat down on the bed next to Remus, and James followed suit on the other side. Both of them glared at Silverlocke who nervously tugged at his tie.

"Er, until later, Lupin," the Slytherin said before he quickly left.

Peter looked rather miserably at the fact he couldn't stay then left as well, very slowly, casting looks over his shoulder as if hoping Pomfrey would change her mind. She didn't, and the hospital doors swung shut behind him.

"You best not bother him," Pomfrey warned, pointing at the two boys before returning to her office.

James stood up, but Sirius flopped backwards onto the bed, making Remus uncomfortable. "Gonna murder him," Sirius said again, hands waving above him. "I bet Sluggy doesn't do much. Probably just a few points taken away."

"I bet the Slytherin team invites him to be a Beater next year," James said, pulling a chair over. "Slytherins are full of cheaters, every last one of'em."

"Silverlocke isn't," Remus said as he pushed himself back, sitting upright, propping some pillows behind his back.

James scowled and Sirius sat up. "You aren't really friends with that thing, are you?"

"D-d-don't call him a thing!" Remus complained. "I don't think we're friends but we're-acquaintances, at the least, and we study together. And he is nice."

"He's a Slytherin," Sirius said, picking up the empty glass vase on the bedside table and turning it in his hands, finger brushing against the etch of a unicorn. "Slytherins shouldn't exist in this world."

"What've you got against Slytherins anyway?" Remus demanded.

Sirius remained silent. He just kept tracing the unicorn picture, though the muscles in his jaw tensed and he gave off an overwhelming scent of something that Remus couldn't really place. Not quite anger. Something else, something deeper that stirred the wolf a little, giving him the feeling of being on guard.

James cleared his throat. "Maybe not every single Slytherin, but like, nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand are," he said, mussing up his always messy hair. "Be careful 'round that one, though, Remus. Just in case." Remus nodded solemnly. "You really okay? I mean, Mulciber really... I think everyone in the entire stadium heard the crack."

Suddenly Sirius took hold of Remus's shoulder and was inspecting where Mulciber had hit, his fingers very gentle as they brushed aside Remus's hair. "You got a lot of blood matted in there but I think Pomfrey got it healed up. Does it hurt?"

"A little but not like th-the wound is still there," Remus replied, resisting the urge to push Sirius away, far away, far, far, far away where he couldn't touch him.

Sirius smiled and withdrew his hand, wiping the bit of blood off his fingers onto the blanket. "That's good. Pomfrey's really a talented healer, eh?"

"Yes," Remus agreed.

"Guess this means you'll never try out next year?" James grinned cheekily at Remus who rolled his eyes.

"Wasn't planning on it anyway. So what happened? After I blacked out?"

"Jacknife caught the second Snitch," Sirius said, nose crinkled up. "But James scored again which was good since Hooch called off the last of the game cause of you, after Jacknife got it."

"250 to 190," James said, pumping his fist in the air. "We beat those dumb snakes."

Remus could 't help but smile at James's excitement. "How many g-goals did you get?"

James's grin somehow spread even more, reminding Remus of a jack o'lantern. "Twelve! Inkwood got the other six. No one else on Gryffindor scored. I was gonna score again when Hooch blew that stupid whistle."

"Did you enjoy being a Beater?"

"Dunno, all right I guess. Wanted to be a Chaser but guess Hooch thought these muscles would be better suited for the Beater." Sirius stretched his arms out, flexing.

"What muscles?" James asked.

"Shaddup! Got more muscles than you, you're like a scrawny chicken. Evans did good as a Seeker."

"I kinda wanted to be a Seeker, honestly," James admitted. "I knew I'd do well as a Chaser but I've never had the chance to try anything Seekery."

"Guess you're not enough like a scrawny chicken then," Sirius teased.

Remus coughed. "Thanks a lot."

"Well. You are a shrimp," Sirius said and Remus tried to glare but failed.

They stayed until nearly five when Pomfrey finally chased them away. She used a few cleaning spells on Remus's hair before letting him go in time for him to go to his Occlumency lesson. Of course, Remus was far too distracted to be able to do anything and his head started hurting really bad after only two attempts, so after the third Fawley ended the session. Normally he'd be disappointed however today all he did was mumble he'd see her later, and then headed to the Gryffindor tower to take a nap.